The burned youth
by sharingstories2
Summary: "The one who shone so bright but had burned even brighter" *contains substance abuse*


It happened slowly, she had so much pressure on her young shoulders. At fourteen her siblings had already become superheroes well all except one. Chloe pondered her sister, the one who had lost it all. The one who shone so bright but had burned even brighter when he sat next to her. The older brother who lost everything.  
"Mum said I'd find you out here" he said. Chloe looked up, she hadn't seen him in months, he looked haggard. As if he was dying, which she supposed he would soon if he wasn't careful. Billy had gone with him on his mission and had told the family that he seemed okay but the loss of such her had a detrimental effect on her health.  
"What do you want Max?" she asked, He stared at the sky, as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  
"They say that you're acting different" he stated  
"They say you're a dead man walking" she replied. He laughed, pulling out a roll of marijuana.  
"You will be if you continue with the idiots you hang around with" he told her before throwing the drug out into the sky where someone else could use it. Chloe said nothing more as he got up and walked away.

* * *

The next time she saw him she was fifteen, her parents had begun her superhero training, it had been put on hold after phoebe but they had decided now was the right time to train her. It was too bad she was too drunk to turn up. So, she had gone to their spot, the roof of Phoebe's old house where her sister had burned like a star in the sky. It wasn't long till Max found her, like he had a year before. The day Phoebe stopped burning.  
"It'll kill your liver" he said  
"I wish it would" she told him. The elder Thunderman frowned and grabbed the bottle of Cider from her hands.  
"Mum and dad are worried, they said that you didn't want to be a superhero" he said  
"Do you?" she asked. He frowned, no, not after Phoebe and the way she burned. He threw the bottle across the roof.  
"Then be normal but don't be like those idiots you associate with"  
"So I shouldn't be like you?" she asked, he paled, she knew about the after effects of fire then  
"No one should be like me" then the brother walked off.

* * *

Chloe knew what she was doing was wrong, pills, cigarettes and alcohol should not be on her agenda but she supposed that it was someone else's fault. They shouldn't be so accessible after all. It was four years after Phoebe burned that she had hit rock bottom. Max found her passed out in front of phoebe's grave, ecstasy, cocaine and vodka swirled around her stomach. He sighed and picked her up. When she woke up she was in Phoebe's old house, on the table beside her lay a bottle of water and a note.  
 ** _Happy 17th birthday baby sister_**  
She shook her head, tears in her eyes. How on earth was her birthday a happy occasion when her sister died the same day? Nether the less she drank the water and teleported home.  
Her parents were waiting for her when she got home, as it turned out they had known about her drug addiction for the past year. She supposed it wouldn't do any good to tell them she had been smoking since she was thirteen, nether the less they fought. Her drug addled mind clouded her judgment and she screamed that if they were such great parents they wouldn't blame her for Phoebe and then she teleported away.  
She avoided home for the next few months, staying in drug dens and other undesirable places. Billy and Nora occasionally visited whichever pit she was in, begging her to get help, she had smiled and said no one helped Phoebe. They had left her alone after that.

* * *

It was on the eve of her 18th birthday when she saw Max, he had found her on the roof once again.  
"So, are you high or sober right now?" he asked.  
"Please don't give me some pretentious crap about drugs, I'm not in the mood" she said. He sat down beside her, wondering how his sweet little baby sister had fallen so far.  
"Why do you do this Chloe?" he asked. She shrugged  
"Phoebe" was her answer. He shook his head  
"No, you were smoking marijuana before Phoebe died" he told her. Chloe turned to look at him, to really look at him. He was covered in scars and his once young face was gaunt and she decided if anyone could share her pain it was him.  
"You used to be the villain Max, Phoebe was the good guy. Billy and Nora where somewhere in between so where did that leave me? I was this girl who had so much potential and was surrounded by role models and for some reason I just couldn't do it. I was so overwhelmed so my friends give me a way to relax. I just… I wanted something Max, a way to not think I suppose and then Phoebe died… before she died she knew about my little habit, she found some in my bag and smelt it on my clothes but she wasn't mad- "  
"She understood" max interrupted. Chloe looked up, shocked he knew what Phoebe had done.  
"You knew that she used to smoke?" she asked. Max nodded  
"We always used to big phoebe up because she was the prophesized but I don't think it helped her, she had so much pressure to be the best and she cracked, smoking helped until everyone found out that dear, sweet phoebe had a dirty habit. In the end the pressure killed her anyway."  
Chloe pulled her knees to her chest and placed her knees under her chin.  
"I know I'm doing wrong Max but the image haunts me, of how she burned in a fire of her own making, the drugs help me forget what I had caused." Max stared at her, he pulled her into a hug as Chloe broke down into tears.  
"I don't know who I am Max and I feel like… like if she hadn't done what she did… I could have had a chance of making it out of this alive" Max kissed her forehead.  
"I love Phoebe but when she burned so did we" then he pulled Chloe closer as she sobbed.

* * *

It had been five years since Phoebe stopped burning but her flames still tortured those who loved her.


End file.
